Doral Police Department Reinforces Patrolling At Dawn
In the face of the recent cases of auto theft, Doral Police Department Reinforces Patrolling At Dawn
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Most of these events have been linked to the theft of tires and belongings stolen from inside the vehicle.
By: Edda Pujadas
DORAL, FL – Even when the statistics from the Miami Dade Police Department show a decrease of 4.62% for auto theft for the first semester of 2019 compared to the same period of 2018, neighbors from Doral have reported having been victims of this crime in the last few weeks.
From January to June of 2018, there were 1,580 vehicles vandalized in Miami Dade, while during the same period of 2019 the number of vandalized vehicles decreased to 1,507. A similar situation happened with auto theft which went from 4,339 to 4,128 in the same period, a decrease of 4.86% when comparing both years.
While this trend appeared to hold true also for Doral, in the last weeks there have been several cases of vandalized cars in our city. Rey Valdes, Public Information Officer for the Doral Police Department explains that these cases have been linked to the theft of tires and belongings that have been stolen from the inside of the car.
“In several of these criminal activities, we have determined that the car owners had left the car keys inside the car, making it easier for these criminals to rob them. We have also found that the criminals had broken the car windows in order to gain access to the interior of the car.”
Valdes indicates that the Doral Police Department takes all the crimes that affect our city and our residents very seriously, for this reason, they have put in place immediate strategies to prevent these thefts to continue happening. “One of these strategies is that we have reinforced our patrolling in the different communities in Doral, with an extended focus in the early hours of the morning.”
“It is obvious that in the early hours of the morning the streets are lonely and our properties are more susceptible to be vandalized, for this reason, our officers are paying much more attention to these hours, hours in which the lack of light and the loneliness of the streets can be taken advantage of by the thieves.”
As part of this new patrolling system, the officers of the Doral Police Department are also enforcing the Miami Dade County Curfew Ordinance which prohibits teenagers younger than 17 years of age to be out in the streets after 11 pm during the week and after 12 am during the weekends.
The idea of this curfew is to reduce the crimes during the night and during the first hours of the morning, while providing attention, safety and protection to both the teenagers and minors and the resident of the cities in Miami Dade County. If a law enforcement officer finds a teenager younger than 17 years of age during the curfew hours, this teenager will be arrested, and the parents will have to go get their teenager from the police station.
It is important to mention that even the parents can be sanctioned with fines that can reach $500 if the teenager continues to violate the curfew. The teenagers will only be exempted of the curfew in the following cases: if the teenager is working, coming or going to the job; if the teenager is traveling across states; if the teenager has a written authorization from a parent or guardian to go out of the house for a specific purpose; if the teenager is helping someone with an emergency: if the teenager is coming back from school, church or a civic activity; if the teenager is not considered a minor because he or she is married or has a judicial order; if the teenager does not have a home or if is accompanied by one of the parents or legal guardian.
Logically, in addition to preventing the occurrence of new crimes through these strategies, the Doral Police Department is also searching for clues that can help them identify the suspects responsible for these crimes, and for this reason, the collaboration of the Doral residents is very important.
“In fact, our Neighborhood Resource Unit has conducted several inspections in the communities that have been affected by these crimes, with the purpose of identifying vulnerabilities in their safety and to make suggestions to the administration of each community. The idea is to verify the existent protection systems and make the necessary recommendations to improve them.”
It is important to remember that the Neighborhood Resource Unit of the Doral Police Department makes presentations to the different communities, community centers, offices and during public events and through these presentations they explain different ways in which crime can be avoided. These are educational presentation with the goal to provide each resident with the necessary knowledge on how to avoid being subject of a crime.
This educational job from the Doral Police Department has already expanded to social media and is present in social media channels such as Twitter. Through this community, meetings are promoted in conjunction with the Homeowner Associations.
“To me it is indispensable that we all understand that the residents and business owners play a major role in the success of these safety programs, and for this reason they need to actively participate and get educated on the preventative measures that each one of us have to take individually and as a group of residents and a united group of business owners.”
Part of the message from the Doral Police Department is not to facilitate the job to the thieves, we must remember always to close our cars and do not leave valuables visible. Most of the car break-ins are an opportunity crime, so the easiest we make it for the thief, it will be more probable that we fall victim of this. We provide the opportunity to the thief when we leave our car open and when we leave valuables inside and especially when they are left in plain sight.
The recommendations of the Doral Police Department highlight that you can reduce the probability of being a victim of car theft or vandalism if you park in a well-lighted area, do not leave valuables in plain sight and close all the doors in your car. “In my position as a public information officer, I personally send out messages through our Twitter and Instagram pages reminding our followers of the different measures that they can implement to prevent being a victim of similar cases as those explained previously,” comments Rey Valdes.
Remember that in order to report any incident or suspicious person, you can contact the Doral Police Department via telephone at 305.593.6699 or send them an email at info@doralpd.com
Outside of Doral , good luck finding other place which enforces this curfew .
I work at night and OFTEN when I go eat lunch at 1 am ( lol ) . I see young teenagers buying cigarettes , etc in Coral Way . NEVER saw this in Doral even before the curfew .